First green gongs granted

The winners of the Australian steel industry’s inaugural sustainability awards announced at the Australian Steel Convention in Sydney on 20 November testify to the diverse ways local industry is getting greener right across the value chain from the mill onward.

A collaborative effort between OneSteel and University of NSW (UNSW) that is already harvesting carbon for steelmaking from reclaimed polymers such as car tyres shared the top honour in the Sustainable Work Practices category.

The equal winner in that category was GB Galvanizing who built a range of provisions into their new Victorian plant to reduce waste and energy use and optimise water usage, showing clearly that you don’t have to be a huge organisation to find better solutions in steel processing.

Arup scored first place in the Sustainable Products and Solutions category by successfully utlilising the steel framed way of extending the useful life of a well-worn Sydney CBD office building. Without the steel option, this building would have been demolished and rebuilt using valuable new resources and creating considerable waste.

In the same category, clever modeling of a prefabricated building by architect, Andrew Bell and Van Der Meer Consulting Engineers attracted special recognition from the Judging Panel for the Bell Residence in Victoria. The joint entrants demonstrated a good understanding and application of the environmental hierarchy of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.